• We ran a string of ‘retired greyhound’ stories during the month, starting with this trio which were compiled in early August.
  • After the semi finals of the Sussex Cup, Ladbroke Coral Head of Racing Ian Smyth quipped the track were due to stage a ‘£10,000 A1’. In fact, winning trainer and coursing fan Seamus Cahill would appreciated a fine buckle between his two top kennel stars as Droopys Gold led home Sporting Dave.
  • During what was a particularly poor year for the under-fire Greyhound Trust, (Joe Scanlon and Clive Feltham have both recently resigned as trustees) Kinsley boss John Curran questioned whether the industry should be seeking alternative options for rehoming. Curran’s thoughts were very similar to those of another widely experienced industry figure in Stephen Franklin
  • GBGB stipendiary stewards are not famous for going public with their thoughts so it was refreshing to hear the views of Pete Rosney being expanded so openly. In this article, he talks about the attitude of trainers to welfare and particularly, euthanasia. Interestingly, Rab McNair responded shortly afterwards with his recollection of his upbringing around greyhounds in the harsh world of flapping in the Scottish mining villages. In the same month, the Editors Chair column considered the industry’s history for re-homing (or not) its ex-racers
  • Within the space of a few days, the industry lost two men who played a significant role in the development of the industry. Without the enthusiasm and passion of businessman and former trainer, Maurice Buckland, there would be no Perry Barr Stadium. Whereas the larger-than-life Jon Carter played a major role in the existence today of both Nottingham and Sheffield. Later in the month, we lost two very popular former trainers in Peter Billingham and John Gammon
  • In what proved a tough year for Irish racing, there was some good news in the largest Derby entry in many years – 158.
  • Irish hare coursing is suspended and the season is put at risk following the outbreak of ‘rabbit flu’ RHD.
  • We are sometimes alerted to interesting or quirky greyhound footage. This was probably the most popular clip of this year.
  • Local grader Miss Blackbell becomes the first winner on the ‘flipped’ Romford course whereby the 400m and 575m courses have been reversed and the winning line now on the old backstraight.
  • ‘Top class’ and ‘competitive’ don’t always come in the same package. In the case of the Ladbrokes Gold Cup at Monmore, every box was ticked with possibly one of the most exciting major finals of 2019. The Stayers Classic wasn’t too shabby either.
  • The Irish Performance of the Week column highlighted a whole string of exciting youngsters hitting the tracks. On August 19th, we flagged up a pup having her first staying race at Clonmel, Skilful Sandie, and a flying 19 month old youngster at Dundalk, Tasty Treat.
  • The longest distance win of the year? We don’t keep records but would nominate Stardom’s track recording breaking performance at Crayford where she slooshed up by a head short of 21 lengths. A appropriate time to live up to her name in the week that kennelmate Donation was retired to the breeding paddocks.